A Different World

From the beginning of time the world has been able to stay stabilized through a series of checks and balances.  If one species got too dominant, mother nature always had a way to bring it down.  That is why there are several episodes of mass extinction in Earth's history.  This has even held true with all of the different civilizations of man.  The difference is that it is not mother nature that brought them to their end, it was other men.  On the other hand, maybe it is "nature" that was the downfall of these civilizations.  Is it not the "nature" of man to want what another man has?  Is it not the "nature" of man to want to have the world under his control?  "Nature" blesses all things with certain traits that helps them advance, but is this desire to conquer the world a blessing or a curse?

How different would the world be if we did not have the desire to claim domain over everything?  What would change if the Europeans never decided to explore and discover a "new world"?  Would there have ever been any wars?  Would there have ever been slavery? (I know slavery still existed, but I am talking about the "drag someone from their continent to a completely different continent" type of slavery)  What would the Native American be like now if Columbus and his boys did not come over here wrecking all kinds of havoc?

"That's why you are stupid.  You are taking away humans desire to learn, and human creativity.  We are naturally curious, we want to learn and explore new things.  That's what makes us such a great species.  That's what has allowed us to advance over all of this time.  Fore you to take that away mean you are turning us back into neanderthals."

I see your point Douglass.  Our curiosity and creativity is what makes us so special.  So let us explore a scenario.  We will assume that everything in history happens exactly the same way, but we will remove any instance that someone did something out of pure greed.  What events would vanish?  We would have never invaded Iraq looking for WMD A.K.A. oil.  Katrina would have been avoided because the people in charge would have minded paying the extra money to fix the levees.  The environment would be in MUCH better shape because companies would not mind paying a little extra money to dispose of waste in the correct manner.

(I know I am talking about cliche things here, but I am not a history buff.  You get the point I am trying to get across.)

"Maybe greed is the way nature intends to put us in check, along with all of the other 7 seven deadly sins.  If we were not as messed up as we are we would be thriving.  Not just as a country, but as a entire species.  It human were able to set aside egos and greed we could all come together and do some truly remarkable things."

The sad thing is that this will never happen. So in essence, human will probably never reach their full potential because we are physically incapable of the whole before the individual.

The question always remains: The world would be different, but would it be better?

I think it would be.

~sTeW~

30 Years is a LONG Time

The American Revolution lasted 8 years.

The Civil War lasted 4 years.

World War I lasted 5 years.

World War II lasted 6 years.

The Vietnam War lasted 15 years.

My parents marriage............ 30 years and still going strong.

It is a funny thing to think about.  My folks have been married for almost as long as all of America's wars combined.  That is a really long time.

Over the years I have seen my folks argue the same way that all couples do, but never have I seen them at the point where they were ready to give up.  They always said that no matter how mad they got at each other that me and my brother were the most important thing, and they would always love each other.  I remember a few times I would ask if they were going to get a divorce after a big fight, their response was always the same, "Where am I gonna go?".  We would always have a good laugh off of that.  I assume that they would have some angry make-up sex or something to get over it because the conflict would never last more than a day.

They are such an odd couple.  My mom was born and raised in Harlem, NY and my dad was born and raised in Goldsboro, NC.  Those places are as far as opposites as you can get.  My mom is loud and obnoxious, my dad is quiet and reserved.  My dad has more of a logic and numbers mind, my mom is very creative.  Here is where it starts to get weird, my dad is the emotional one while my  mom is the hardass.  For the most part I can be completely relaxed around my mom while with my dad I have to watch what I say and do.  At the end of the day, their strange relationship has made it 30 YEARS, so whatever they are doing they are doing a great job.

As I have gotten older I have seen their love grow stronger.  I would venture to say that they are in love more now than ever.  It is probably because my brother and I are out of the house and they get to spend more time together.  I could not ask for a better set of parents, and I love them both with all of my heart.

With that being said, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD.

"HAPPY ANNIVERSARY."

See, even Douglass can get in the spirit.

~sTeW~

Not Fatal Fridays!!!

"I'm really hoping this does not sound too insensitive.  No wait...I really do not care.  I'm getting absolutely sick and tired of hearing about the damn swine flu.  The way I see it, those who are catching it here  in the US are going out looking for it.  It makes no sense to me how this all of a sudden pops up."

Hold up Douglass, that is EXTREMELY insensitive.  People are out there dying because of this thing, and you want to mock those who are catching it?  That is a little low, even for you.

"I'm sorry, but it just does not make any sense to me.  I'll say that I am completely ignorant to the history of the S.F. but it is just hard for me to believe that this kind of thing happens all of a sudden.  Do you want to know what I really think?"

I am sure I am not going to like where this is going.

"If you ask me it's the government testing out a new strain of some new killer disease.  If you look at where these MAGIC pandemics first pop up it is never in the US.  They always start in some far away country then make its way here.  It's inevitable for it to make it to the US but it is a calculated risk that the government takes into account."

Why is everything that happens a government conspiracy?

"The government has ultimate power.  Yeah there are checks and balances, but there are ways to get around that.  We all watch enough movies to know that.  There are those people out there who love the country so much that they have no problem unleashing a deadly flu out into the world for the sake of 'patriotism'."

You are just ridiculous.

"Sure I am.  But what I want all you to remember is that:

Swine flu is not 'fatal', therefore it's no big deal."

±DoUgLaSs±